Phoenix Roadrunners (WHA)

Phoenix Roadrunners
founding	September 14, 1973
resolution	1977
history	Phoenix Roadrunners 1974 - 1977
Stadion	Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Location	Phoenix , Arizona
Team colors	dark blue, copper & white
Avco World Trophies	no
Division title	no

The Phoenix Roadrunners were an ice hockey team from Phoenix , Arizona that was active in the North American World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1974 to 1977 .

history

Phoenix wasn't a common location for an ice hockey team, but it proved worthwhile to have a professional team. From 1967 to 1974 played a lower class team that was very successful in the Western Hockey League and also carried the name Phoenix Roadrunners in the city. The timing for the WHA couldn't have been better. The Roadrunners had won the Patrick Cup as champions of the WHL in 1973 and 1974 , but the league got into trouble and stopped playing in the summer of 1974. The Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum was a stadium that could seat 12,600 spectators.

Those responsible succeeded in putting together a powerful force. With Gary Kurt they had got a strong goalkeeper from the Jersey Knights . In defense, Bob Barlow was a top performer in the WHL Roadrunners' squad. The star of the team, however, was Robbie Ftorek , who had previously played for the Detroit Red Wings and at the beginning of the season was still used in the farm team at the Tulsa Oilers .

In their first season 1974/75 they started on October 16 with an 8-2 win over the San Diego Mariners . At the end of the season, the team was on a playoff place. An average of 7,500 spectators attended the Roadrunners' home games. In the final round, however , the Quebec Nordiques were too strong an opponent.

In the second season the team was rebuilt. Some departures were compensated. Gary Veneruzzo could not fully meet the expectations, Del Hall convinced with 47 goals. The trend to sign players from Europe was followed with the Finn Pekka Rautakallio . Robbie Ftorek was strong again, with 113 points among the best scorers in the league. However, audience participation fell by a good 1,000 to under 6,500. They reached the playoffs again, but again the first round of the playoffs ended.

When the 1976/77 season started, there were a number of Finnish Olympians on board, including Seppo Repo . The season got off to a good start, but after November only three games were won out of 27 away games. The main problems lay in defense. 383 goals conceded were by far the undisputed top of the league. The last place in the league was the result. The only bright spot was Robbie Ftorek, who was elected MVP of the league by just one vote. This made him the first American to be elected MVP in one of the top North American ice hockey leagues. Only once before had this title been awarded to a player from the weakest team in the league. At that time it was the current trainer of the Roadrunners, Al Rollins , who had succeeded in doing this in 1954 with the Chicago Black Hawks .

Although the average attendance had risen again to almost 7,000, the team lost almost two million US dollars a year. You couldn't make up for that by selling young talent either. In March the group of owners around Karl Eller announced that the search for a new buyer for the team had been unsuccessful and that the team would be dissolved at the end of the season. The season was played well to the end and on April 6th the last game against the Indianapolis Racers was won 7-3.

In the future, there were always teams in Phoenix that bore the name Roadrunners. It was not until the mid-1990s that the Phoenix Coyotes, a team in a top league, came to Arizona.